When Horizon PAC’s new website launched with a big red “H” in the middle of its homepage earlier this month, everyone was in on the joke. This is, as a PAC staffer e-mailed reporters, the “campaign-in-waiting” for former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who recently resigned as American ambassador to China.

The PAC’s launch, though, has sent Huntsman’s presidential prospects into a politically bizarre and legally tricky two-month limbo.

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That’s because while Huntsman has resigned, he will continue to serve in one of America’s most sensitive diplomatic posts until the end of April, reflecting a deal struck between the ambassador and the White House that an array of prominent political lawyers described as puzzling and risky.

“This is a really bad idea,” said Richard Painter, who was White House chief ethics lawyer during President George W. Bush’s second term. “He ought to just come on home immediately — like immediately — and have an acting ambassador over there.”

There are plenty of diplomatic reasons to question Huntsman’s decision to remain in office through April. If a conflict erupts in the Taiwan Strait, would a Republican on the verge of running for president be able to speak for the Obama White House? There are few more delicate ambassadorial posts than the job in Beijing, as was demonstrated Thursday when Huntsman made headlines by appearing briefly at an anti-government protest.

But for the group of aides assembling a campaign operation that could be turned over to Huntsman, there are more concrete legal issues in play.

If Huntsman overtly signaled that aides should prepare an operation to help elect him president, that would put him in dangerous territory, lawyers said.

That’s because anything resembling campaign activity on Huntsman’s part could potentially run afoul of the Hatch Act, which restricts executive branch officials from campaigning for office — or authorizing others to campaign and raise money on their behalf.

Federal law is relatively strict in barring employees from political activity while on duty, and special rules for ambassadors indicate that they are considered “on post” — or on duty — at all times when they are in their host countries. George Terwilliger, a former Bush-Cheney campaign adviser and a top Justice Department official under President George H.W. Bush, noted that there have traditionally been higher public expectations — if not always tougher legal limits — for officials involved in national security.

“People who are engaged in national security functions and foreign policy roles typically keep a greater distance from overt political activity than perhaps other people in government,” he said, noting: “The secretary of state and the attorney general do not campaign, even for incumbent presidents for whom they serve.”

This rich man's son RINO is going exactly nowhere with his insolent candidacy. He has been so insolated from reality by his privileged life that he thinks all obstacles will fall away before him just as they did for Obama. Not gonna happen, rich boy.

I applaud Huntsman for staying in the post longer than he would like at the request of the U.S. President. I'm not sure how many other 2012 candidates, including the one running for re-election, would put their personal ambitions behind what's good for the country...

God forbid Huntsman wants to do something good and responsible for his country instead of just bailing out to run for office immediately. He should be applauded for this, not vilified.

I doubt I'd vote for him in a general election, and I have very little doubt the Tea Party folks would destroy him in a primary, but he's a good and decent man. He's the type of Republican that used to give me real problems when it came time for me to decide between voting D or R.

Unfortunately for his political career, and for my choices at the ballot box, the new Fascist Tea Party folks will never tolerate his brand of integrity, which they revile as treason. If you disagree with them on one or two issues you're cast out and destroyed. He stands no chance.

You've heard of the "money primary" and the "media primary". This is what's known as the "skirting the law primary", in which prospective GOP hopefuls prove their chops at thumbing their nose at campaign finance regulations and other ethical issues in advance of the real test of scoundreldom, the GOP primary season.

Henry Cabot Lodge faced a similar situation in 1964. His fans campaigned for him and he won the Oregon Republican Presidential Primary while he was still a sitting US Ambassador in South VietNam. Of course he resigned shortly after winning the Oregon Primary to come home and campaign, but lost the nomination to Barry Goldwater.

Henry Cabot Lodge faced a similar situation in 1964. His fans campaigned for him and he won the Oregon Republican Presidential Primary while he was still a sitting US Ambassador in South VietNam. Of course he resigned shortly after winning the Oregon Primary to come home and campaign, but lost the nomination to Barry Goldwater.

Henry Cabot Lodge faced a similar situation in 1964. His fans campaigned for him and he won the Oregon Republican Presidential Primary while he was still a sitting US Ambassador in South VietNam. Of course he resigned shortly after winning the Oregon Primary to come home and campaign, but lost the nomination to Barry Goldwater.